Claire McCaskill and the telecoms

Dodd will lead the charge and filibuster today to stop retroactive immunity for the telecom companies that were more than happy to spy on you and me at the whim of the president.

And even my Democratic senator appears to be willing to play along.

This is just embarrassing (especially when one stops to consider that the seat held by McCaskill is the same seat once held by Harry Truman!)

It is one thing to be for sale, but to be for sale at fire-sale prices is just humiliating. When she was the Jackson County prosecutor she locked up prostitutes and their johns, and put the johns on teevee.

Now she has joined their ranks.

Back here in Missouri we have been more than a little pissed off at her since August, when she put her leisure time ahead of the Fourth Amendment. And then there was her pathetically lame response to my concerns when I contacted her office to express my outrage.

This morning I called her office to let her know what I think about telecom immunity - and the staffer I spoke with couldn't - or wouldn't - tell me how she intends to vote. But I'm pretty cynical, and I think I have a pretty good idea. After all, telecoms have a lot deeper pockets than this midtown housewife and full-time Nana.

I may not have a ton of money to throw around, but I have time to visit open secrets . org

Alcatel USA

$1,000

Level 3 Communications

$2,500

Sprint Nextel

$5,000

Verizon Wireless

$2,500

AT&T Inc

$1,000

CenturyTel Inc

$2,000

Embarq Corp

$2,000

TDS Telecommunications

$2,000

Time Warner Telecom

$1,000

I couldn't (legally) contribute several thousand dollars even if I had it to give, so I'm as pissed off about the low, low price tag as I am the selling out of the Bill of Rights.

Right now, I am counting days to 2012, when I can support a primary challenger to take away the seat she so obviously does not deserve to occupy.

UPDATE I - PALE RIDER

If you click those links, you'll see this nifty breakdown:

.

Update II - Blue Girl, via fellow WTWC blogger Gadfly:

Here’s the list of the 12 Democratic Senators who voted to kill the Senate Judiciary Committee’s FISA renewal plan without telecommunications company immunity:

Sens. Evan Bayh (D-IN), Tom Carper (D-DE), Daniel Inouye (D-HI), Tim Johnson (D-SD), Mary Landrieu (D-LA), Claire McCaskill (D-MO), Barbara Mikulski (D-MD), Bill Nelson (D-FL), Ben Nelson (D-NE), Mark Pryor (D-AR), Jay Rockefeller (D-WV), and Ken Salazar (D-CO).

You're Not Going to Believe This...

[Is it me or is he going for the same look that the keyboard player in Duran Duran has never been able to pull off?]

Republican smear artist Roger Stone jumps the shark and crosses the line:

Stone wants everyone to understand the mission of the organization, simply and elegantly captured in its artwork, which Stone shows us. It features a red inverted triangle at the bottom of which, is a blue triangle with a white star in the middle. At first glance, it kind of looks like the Puerto Rican flag, or Captain America's martini glass. Stone designed it himself, and on second glance, it's meant to whisper, not scream, "special flower."

The text underneath it reads "Citizens United Not Timid, a 527 Organization To Educate The American Public About What Hillary Clinton Really Is." The artwork and text are, it turns out, the entirety of the "education." Stone says the website will feature an attractive model in the organization's T-shirt, which can be yours for a "donation" of $25 or more. And it will also feature a rolling tally of people who agree with the statement that's not quite stated, something like "the population billboard in Times Square that's constantly increasing because some baby is born in Botswana."

In addition to this website being blast-emailed to hundreds of thousands of addresses that Stone and West have accumulated over the years (working off over 170 different email lists of everyone from opinion-makers to political activists to industry associations), Stone is counting on T-shirt sales to further serve as "billboard education." He figures the whole thing will end up taking on a viral nature, thanks to the yuks factor.

"The more people go to the site, the more people buy the T-shirts," Stone explains to the troops. "The more people buy the T-shirts, the more people wear the T-shirts. The more people wear the T-shirts, the more people are educated. Consequently, our mission has been achieved." Though neither the word itself nor even the acronym is ever mentioned, "it's one-word education. That's our mission. No issues. No policy groups. No position papers. This is a simple committee with an unfortunate acronym. Addendums, deletions? Everybody's down?"

And what are we talking about?



Any Republican that does not disown and condemn this horrible attempt at humor is fair game. Fair fucking game.

"The truth is, we sat around for hours trying to come up with words for B.I.T.C.H. and just couldn't do it," admits Stone. "Try it," West encourages, "Start with 'b'--it has to be a noun." I'm stumped. "Bureau, actually," says Stone. "That's as far as we got. Now take it away, Matt."

Now, if you happen to think this doesn't cross a line that I, personally, didn't think they would be stupid enough to cross, I don't know what else to say. Any Republican who employs or is seen with Roger Stone for the rest of this cycle is fair game. I mean, this is gloves on the ice, jersey over the back of the head, roundhouse punch to the nuts time. This is clearly one of the most outrageous and misogynistic things I've ever seen. This is not some fringe member of the right wing--Roger Stone went to work for Richard Nixon at the age of nineteen and he's travelled in big circles within the Right Wing establishment.

His most recent disgrace? Threatening the father of New York Governor Eliot Spitzer:

Roger Stone, a prominent GOP consultant, is accused of having left a ranting voice mail on the answering machine of Spitzer's father, Bernard. Drudging up an old issue over controversial loans the elder Spitzer made to his son, Stone is said to have raged, "You will be subpoenaed to testify before the Senate committee on investigations … and there's not a goddamn thing your phony, psycho, piece-of-shit son can do about it!"

And let's not forget the real reason Roger Stone is so well known:

In 1996, Roger and his wife Nydia purportedly placed an ad in Swing Fever magazine looking for single men and couples to join them in group sex. According to reporting in the National Enquirer and the Star, the copy proclaimed:

C-161,787-DC* INSATIABLE COUPLE
We are hot, athletic and very fit. We are seeking similar couples or exceptional muscular, well hung, single men. She's 40DD-24-36 and bi. She loves to fuck hard and deep. He's 195 lbs., trim, muscular and 8" +. She prefers jocks, miliary men, and body builders. No fat people or smokers need respond. Send photo and phone. No photo, no response! We are interested in DC, VA, MD, NYC, Miami, and LA.

VOICE MAIL 12209

Stone has a deranged idea of what's funny. A lot of very creative people just found their motivation to respond, I suspect.

UPDATE I - Open Secrets dot org:

My, my...

STONE, ROGER J MR
SURFSIDE,FL 33154
SELF-EMPLOYED/CONSULTANT
6/15/2007
$2,300
Giuliani, Rudolph W

The truth will out in the end

An information tribunal in the U.K. has ordered the Foreign Office to publish an early draft of the dossier on Iraq's (nonexistent) weapons of mass destruction. In September 2002 the final draft was issued by prime minister Tony Blair and has been at the center of a scandal followign allegations that the dossier had been 'sexed up' in order to sell the invasion of Iraq.

Critics of the process used to put together the dossier point to allegations, originally made by the BBC, that government spin doctors added in a claim that then Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein had the ability to launch WMDs within 45 minutes.

This was seen as one of the crux issues in the debate over whether military action was used against Hussein and Iraq in 2003.

The Hutton report into the circumstances surrounding Dr Kelly's death criticised the actions of the BBC in producing a documentary in which he was named.

But many feel the full story behind the creation of the dossier is yet to be heard because secrecy still remains over the drafting process of the document.

In handing down its decision on the publication of what is known as 'the Williams draft', the information tribunal said there is "a strong public interest in disclosure".

"We do not accept that we should, in effect, treat the Hutton Report as the final word on the subject," the tribunal decision continues.

"Information has been placed before us, which was not before Lord Hutton, which may lead to questions as to whether the Williams' draft in fact played a greater part in influencing the drafting of the dossier than has previously been supposed."

The tribunal also suggested that the handwriting of two different individuals was found on the document, "suggesting that at least one person other than the author had reviewed and commented on it".

And I trust you all remember the late Dr. David Kay? He was the weapons scientist who originally leveled the allegations that the charges made in the dossier released by Blair were embellished to sell the invasion and war. Shortly after he was named publicly in a BBC documentary, he was found dead, apparently by his own hand - but allegations that he was murdered still surface, and many people feel that even if it wasn't murder most foul, at the very least he was hounded to suicide.

One British MP went so far as to resign his seat in Parliament so he could devote his full and undivided attention to investigating the demise of Dr. Kelly. The rumors and speculations surrounding his death are sure to resume as the issue of the 'sexed up' dossier return to the fore.

The Foreign Office might appeal the ruling to the High Court in an effort to keep it under wraps - but the climate in Britain is not conducive to the secrecy, arrogance and hubris of the Blair era. I, for one, hope that this is the straw that breaks the camels back.

[H/T Cernig]